The Bad Apothecary

Diwu stumbles into the capital half-dead —wounded by something no healer can cure. Nestled in her flesh is a strange pathogen carrying corruption, the antithesis of the Natural Order. Desperate, she trades freedom for survival and falls into the grip of the Hierarchy—a ruthless organization that keeps power in check by any means necessary. Their offer: treatment in exchange for loyalty. Her first assignment entangles her with Nex Teres, a battle-hardened cultivator with no interest in playing agent. But the Hierarchy doesn’t ask—it coerces. Bound by duty and circumstance, they’re sent to the lawless out-post where Diwu was first infected, and where the name of a long-dead legend has surfaced: the Bad Apothecary.